Elon Musk has made an intriguing proposition to OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman, says he will drop his lawsuit against the company if they agree to rebrand as “ClosedAI.”
The billionaire took to his social media platform X (formerly Twitter) to make the offer, stating, “Change your name to ClosedAI and I will drop the lawsuit”, adding in subsequent posts, “OpenAI needs to stop living a lie.”
In a playful yet pointed move, Musk edited a photo of Sam Altman, replacing his guest ID card details with “ClosedAI” alongside OpenAI’s logo.
The lawsuit filed by Elon Musk against OpenAI alleges breaches of contractual agreements made during his involvement in founding the ChatGPT-maker back in 2015.
Musk’s contention is that OpenAI has strayed from its original mission, prioritizing profit over serving humanity. Although he co-founded the company, Musk resigned from its board in 2018.
In response to Musk’s legal action, OpenAI released a series of private emails between him and the company.
“We’re sad that it’s come to this with someone whom we’ve deeply admired — someone who inspired us to aim higher, then told us we would fail, started a competitor, and then sued us when we started making meaningful progress towards OpenAI’s mission without him.” The company said.
In a blog post, they expressed disappointment over the situation, describing Musk as someone they deeply admired, but who ultimately sued them after they made significant progress towards their mission without his involvement.
OpenAI revealed that Musk had suggested tethering the company to Tesla as a funding source, a proposal that the team rejected.
Subsequently, Musk chose to depart from OpenAI, asserting that their chances of success were slim. Despite his departure, Musk had purportedly expressed support for the company to find its own path in securing funding.
The exchange underscores the complex relationship between Musk and OpenAI, blending legal disputes with philosophical differences over the direction of AI development.
